


Everything You Need

by moonemoji



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Jacob-centric, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-24 23:53:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16185788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonemoji/pseuds/moonemoji
Summary: Jacob runs a shop to help people and Hyunjae needs a lot of help





	Everything You Need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fondly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fondly/gifts).



The first time Hyunjae walked into the store, Jacob wasn’t necessarily looking forward to seeing any more customers — as in he was looking forward to seeing nothing but the non-opening of his front door. He always gave himself until six to keep the hope that he could close early and turn off the lights, since the store closed at seven and hardly anyone came with the intention of staying only an hour. But Hyunjae walked in at 5:54pm and Jacob could see a spark from the tips of the fingers he hid under the coffee table he always sat behind, tempting fire to flourish through and set the man who had now forced him to stay until the proper closing time aflame.

The rain was roaring loudly outside in a way that rain roars when it’s relentless and unforgiving. Hyunjae clearly didn’t pack an umbrella, not forgiven in the slightest as he had an entire flood of water dripping off of him. He looked at Jacob as if he knew he was intruding, yet still failed to walk out and leave even with this knowledge. Jacob’s index finger twitched as he eyed the man slowly ruining his wooden floor, the temptation strengthening with each _drip_ of a raindrop caught in his clothes.

It had been a long day, the wrong day, and he was close to the end of the rope he was used to never seeing the middle of, let alone the end. He almost asked Hyunjae to leave, though decided he must have had a good reason to be there if he had come so late.

Jacob whispered softly to his fingers in a way that he had learned to so as to not attract attention from wandering eyes. His fingers were very impulsive, you see, they didn’t think about things as much as Jacob did. Their patience ran out faster than his, but he always knew what to say to them to settle their excitement. So instead of setting anything (or _anyone_ ) on fire, he smiled, finding himself surprised to receive one back since the sorrow in the customer’s eyes were hardly nondescript. _At least he’s polite_ , Jacob had thought then.

And although the smile and forced happiness were quickly set aside for a lot of crying and rambling that made sense only half the time, Jacob didn’t mind. He was cute, whoever he was, as he felt everything with his entire heart and looked at the world with nothing darkening it, not even what it was that had made him cry. It was hard to find humans who were so selfless that nothing of their perception was clouded in favour of making themselves look better in their mind than they really were. But Hyunjae was different, Hyunjae asked Jacob for his name when they first met and asked how he was doing every time after that; he questioned slyly instead of demanding explicitly and spoke softly instead of with entitlement.

“What is this place?” He asked when the door closed behind him and the chirping of the bell that Jacob attached to his front door had sung it’s final ring. Jacob only looked at him questioningly, brows creased in confusion because he was used to customers coming from word of mouth — _there’s this guy in the heart of Seoul that can fix your problems, every single one of them!_ — as if he were something to put a 500 won coin in like a fortune telling machine in the middle of a carnival. “I thought this would be…I don’t know, a convenience store? Because of the name — Everything You Need — I was just looking for a banana...or something, I don’t know, I haven’t eaten. Why do you have a sign in front of your house?”

“Never mind what it is,” Jacob answered (though he didn’t really answer anything, did he? he liked to keep some of his secrets to himself), mostly to stop the questions from flooding in. He was used to people being surprised that he worked in the same place he lived, or at least that he didn’t bother to keep his mess of furniture separated from everything else, but it wasn’t the day to answer repetitive questions that didn’t know they were repetitive. It wasn’t that hard of a concept, was it? “I’ll get you a banana, meanwhile you can think about what you _really_ need. It seems like you need something more than just potassium.”

That’s how it began, the rambling around the banana, the wild hand gestures as he told his story, the sobbing while he chewed miserably. He was caught up in his sorrow, no longer wondering about the details behind Jacob’s workspace. He wasn’t curious about anything because he was hurt about something that Jacob really didn’t understand until the man finally left and he was able to think in quiet once again. Eventually he decided that he enjoyed it, enjoyed him. He was fresh, he was new and easy to get used to.

He only stayed for twenty minutes, easily the fastest client Jacob had ever met with, but the one that Jacob wished had stayed longer. It didn’t seem like he needed anything save Jacob’s ears, and while he was more than happy to listen, he didn’t get any of his own questions answered.

There’s sort of a system with Jacob, you see, as his store isn’t like any other. Neither a convenience store nor a fortune telling shop, but something beyond either of those yet at the same time similar to them both. _Everything You Need_ is a shop that he created out of the sheer goodness of his heart, as one would say if he had a heart — and he did, he _does_ have a heart, just not one that’s his alone; one that he shares with everyone he meets. And that’s how the store began, really, because Jacob couldn’t stand to see the increasingly saddening faces of the entire world when he knew he could help them at least a little bit.

“Let me go there and help them,” he asked of his mother, who tried to teach him that humans were nothing to fret over. Though his fascination with them was something uncontainable, and she learned this early, but not early enough to stamp out the flame.

She fought him at first with a determination that already knew it was to be overpowered soon, and Jacob’s insistence was restless no matter how many suns had risen and set and risen again with his mother’s unmoving decision. Until, finally, it moved. And until, finally, he was allowed to be with the people of which he had spent his entire childhood admiring.

But she wasn’t so weak as to let him have his entire way. She was his mother, after all, and she loved him a lot, just not enough for him to be near those she knew would do nothing but harm to him.

“Fine,” she had said when his begging had pierced through her headache and his eyes were pleading in a way that his mouth could not. With defiance, that is, for Jacob was a filial son, one that didn’t enjoy causing headaches and seeing his mother frown. “You may go. But you must come back frequently—” and now she couldn’t help but smile when Jacob’s face turned to one of confusion — _how could I not come back frequently? you’re my mother!_ — “You must, Joonyoung, else I will bring fire to the world just to have you back. And you may not leave the place I will find for you. You can see the humans as close as you’d like and help them from there, but it is dangerous to be with them freely and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

She took her son’s face in her hands, feeling her palms heat up from the warmth of his skin that came as a result of his happiness. He had always been so easy to read, for the skin of his hands and cheeks spoke of what was in his heart; red hot and you had made him angry, a blue kind of cold and he was mournful. He was a cozy orange kind of warm then, a glow that made her happy even if she would soon watch him go.

This was a year ago, and Jacob hadn’t regret his request to descend the mountain he and his mother lived on since, though his mother spoke of her regret to allow him to every time he visited her again. _How much you’ve grown without me watching,_ she’d say even though he never grew at all and she always watched him from the mirror she liked to pretend wasn’t her slave. _She just tells me how pretty I am! She’ll tell you too, if you want her to._

Jacob visited her frequently in the first couple months, as it was difficult to adapt to so many people around when they were all different and unpredictable. He was tempted to move back home, but couldn’t allow himself to give up so quickly. Soon, the difference and unpredictability of the people that passed by him were what made him want to stay. Everyone became exciting to him after they began to tell him whatever story they had, because everyone had a heart that Jacob liked to see just as much as they wanted him to fix it.

He didn’t meet a lot of people at first, since he just sat on the steps of his home and talked to those that passed by. Some would ignore him, some would shoot him a look of contempt and mutter angrily while they walked away, but some were kinder and more giving, some would stop and share their time with him. They’d stop on their path when they heard a soft voice say hello, and minutes later they’d find themselves revealing the biggest burden of their heart to this friendly stranger.

Jacob would tell you it was his kindness and sparkling eyes that coerced the troubles out of them, but you already know Jacob likes to keep some of his secrets to himself.

It’s a simple exchange with Jacob, really. At first, it was only time and heart that he asked for in order to help someone with their troubles. He wanted to know that their hearts were kind and so asked them questions about themselves, about their problems. Though it was rather pointless, because Jacob felt as if every heart were kind enough, and those that weren’t would change when meeting the good fortune he’d bestow on them in the future. Always in the future, for there was a mystery to a delayed goodness, wasn’t there? An attribution to him, but also a waiting time that played with doubt. It made things fun, and he liked to have fun.

Eventually, once people received what they needed, they began to talk to others. And, as with all stories, the details of it became distorted. People began to bring personal items, valuable items that they wouldn’t otherwise depart with had they not needed the goodness of a young and valiant _God_ they were told needed some sort of compensation.

“A god!” Jacob had laughed to himself once he caught wind of the rumour. “Like of the mythologies of Greece, of Zeus and Athena, Hades and Persephone? I thought they were given fruit and wine, not trinkets and photos!”

To Jacob, their blind belief towards Gods above magic was another reason to find them so endearing. Not in a condescending way (even if their ignorance was cute and amusing), but in a way that made them so much more innocent than the wrongdoings they often confessed to. It made him want to help them more, as he loved to help people he was fond of.

He kept their trinkets and photos even if he didn’t ask for them, putting them on the walls of his home that grew to double as a shop, and displayed the stuffed toys and clothes and vases of which contained numerous things, some so sacred that he begged for the customer to take it back though they always insisted for him to keep it as thanks. His home had turned into what looked like a pawn shop, though he found comfort in it, reminding himself of the goodness each item had behind it.

One person had given Jacob their dog in request for a passport to leave the country. He laughed at the sight of it, though kept the pet even if he hadn’t known what to do with a dog since its owner was leaving the country soon, and didn’t like the thought of it being in the cold. He called her Corn, for there was nothing else in the world that more perfectly belonged to a cob. She was his favourite novelty of them all, but it may have been unfair as the photographs were unable to lick his fingers when he felt the emptiness of his home despite all its contents.

They were kind hearted people, humans, willing to do all they could and giving all they could for a light of hope during a dark time. But sometimes they came back, asking for what they had given to him to be returned, wanting to have the cake of Jacob’s good fortune and eat it too by not having to have paid him anything. Though Jacob never asked for payment, did he? That was all their idea.

Eventually he put a sign on the stairs of his home, _Everything You Need_ , because what else would anyone need apart from a little magic? It always comforted him when no one else could. Not that anyone knew it was magic that they were receiving their good fortune from, but he decided it was alright if that had become another one of his secrets.

People came frequently and stayed long, their stories taking hours or even days to finish before they could finally ask for what it was they sought. Jacob could feel their skepticism grow into blind faith, and they often grew dependent on Jacob once they realized he wasn’t just another dead end. Although, eventually, they always stopped coming. He had a feeling his mother had a hand in their sudden disappearance, but Jacob hoped that it was because they grew to believe in themselves instead of in him. He didn’t like to think wrongly of his mother.

Though Hyunjae was different from the rest. Of course he was, otherwise why would Jacob have given him or his visit as much thought as he did?

Hyunjae didn’t ask for money the way most people did, didn’t ask to get his fortune told or to pass a test or an audition or an exam, didn’t ask for anything but a banana and twenty minutes of Jacob’s time. Selflessness was hard to come by when he met people in the situations they were in, kindness hard to see when they’ve been told that a God would solve all their problems for the price of one story and a novelty for him to cherish. But still Jacob saw their kindness and selflessness, even when it was hidden in the deepest crevices of their soul. How much brighter, then, with a man whose heart was not hidden under selfishness stemmed from sadness?

And it wasn’t as if Jacob wasn’t given thanks or hugs or kisses before their fortune had even arrived, but to see it so raw and complete in the way Hyunjae showed it so effortlessly was beyond Jacob’s expectations of anyone. Hyunjae thanked him without knowing that he was to receive money for the debt he had so warily grieved about. He was happy that he was given the chance to speak about his trouble and cry freely without judgement, fed without having to pay even though he insisted that he should.

“Thanks,” he sniffed after Jacob had comforted his open wounds, smiling sheepishly in embarrassment of his emotions the way humans were often conditioned to. “I’ll figure it out. I’ll turn it around.”

It was then, in the moment of Hyunjae’s perseverance and strength even in his weakest moment, that Jacob first felt the thump of his heart against his chest, beating for himself instead of anyone else.

That was almost six months ago, and since then Hyunjae had only visited three other times. The first, to complain about how he spent his days working and his nights fighting with his girlfriend about the rent money that never seemed to make it on time. _I just needed to get away, see a friendly face_ , he gave, as if to explain why he only showed up to complain yet again.

The second was the day right after the first, to apologize for only seeing him to complain then leaving almost immediately after. He explained that he felt like a burden, didn’t want to take up too much of his time with silly problems; that he only needed to let everything out and no one else listened the same way he did. “What are you, anyway?” Hyunjae had asked, unable to hold back the smile that came from Jacob’s answer — _I’m your friend, Hyunjae._ Jacob’s really good at keeping his secrets, isn’t he?

The third, well, the third was right now.

Jacob hadn’t heard from Hyunjae in months, he’d almost forgotten about him entirely had it not been for the rain that tapped on his window, causing images of one’s waterlogged clothes making a puddle on his floor to fill his mind.

But it wasn’t raining now, and there was no trouble to read from his eyes as there usually was. He was smiling, and the thought was one that Jacob hated having, but it was strange to see him happy. Maybe he got too used to being everyone’s sponge to clean away all their tears and absorb all their sadness, that it had become foreign when he wasn’t needed.

“Hyunjae,” Jacob said, his voice lighter than the clouds that used to float down to greet him when he lived with his mother.

“Jacob, hi. How are you?” He asked, though after a lag that didn’t go unnoticed. Maybe he wasn’t as happy as he looked, although eyes had never lied to him before. Jacob cocked his head, eyebrows raising in wordless question — _is something wrong?_

“Can I come in?” Hyunjae asked, and now it was Jacob’s turn to lag. Although he didn’t really lag, he just said _uhhhhhhhhhhh_ before pushing the door further open once he finally made his decision.

It was before time for his shop to even open (it was 4am, it was before time for _any_ shop to even open), but if Hyunjae wanted to make a habit of visiting Jacob when he least wanted to see customers, then who was he to change him? Maybe someone that needed sleep, but he could sleep another day. Maybe he liked to see Hyunjae when he least expected it, too.

“So you really live here?” Hyunjae asked, obviously stalling and obviously not succeeding as Jacob simply nodded without explanation. He continued to look at Hyunjae with questioning eyes, far too intrigued to play the guessing game as his curiosity was beyond anything he could control.

The hierarchy of power goes like this, you see: his curiosity is at the very top, then Jacob himself, then his fingers. So, as much as he wanted to stretch out this visit for as long as possible since he didn’t know when he’d see Hyunjae afterwards, he couldn’t! He had no power to do so.

“Why are you here? At this time?” Jacob asked, eyes fixed on Hyunjae in order to take note of his tensed shoulders and the downwards twitch in his smile.

“I have a problem,” he confessed, and a fatigued voice in Jacob’s head suddenly asked when he’d leave. There was no fun in being someone’s therapist when you weren’t getting paid a therapist’s fee. Or at all, in fact, not that he cared about getting paid even if they were all he used to adorn the walls and shelves of his house.

“I like…someone,” Hyunjae continued, causing Jacob’s eyes to narrow briefly. _What happened to your girlfriend?_ he wanted to ask, but had fortunately come to learn not to ask questions with obvious answers, and instead sat down on his couch. These stories usually took longer than necessary, though he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy them. How easily their hearts swayed from one person to the other took part in his fascination of humans.

Jacob outstretched his arm languidly, waving his hand as if to invite Hyunjae to sit wherever he liked — he owned two armchairs aside from the couch and various stools disarrayed among the house, far too many seats for one man and his dog. Hyunjae sat on the armchair farthest from the couch (well farthest from _him_ , since the chairs were equal distances away from the couch. his fingers never got it wrong, and they liked him to remember that). Watching Hyunjae caused him to think that maybe he was a therapist, just a severely underpaid one.

“I met him a few months ago,” _him_ Jacob noted, though he didn’t say anything and just nodded. “He’s a little weird? I don’t see him a lot, but I feel like I see him everyday since I can’t stop thinking about him.”

Jacob tried to repress his smile, hiding his mouth behind his hand in case he didn’t do so successfully. It was always a little funny, the things these humans went through. How was it possible to not be able to stop thinking about someone? Busy yourself with something, and eventually they’ll vanish.

The sound of rain tapping against a glass window in the back of his mind shut him up, and he continued to nod as if to show he understood.

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should tell him, if I should do anything? Like I said…he’s kind of weird,” he paused again, his reluctance almost so enticing that Jacob was tempted to ask for the story to go faster, something he had told himself he’d never do — people who were rushed were never people who were kind. So instead he tilted his head upwards along with the hike of his eyebrows, his eyes returning the gaze he was given in comfort of the weary look that Hyunjae was giving him. “I...I think he’s a God, or something.”

“A god,” Jacob repeated with a nod.

 _A god!_ Jacob said in his head, finding far too much glee in the declaration of the man’s species. Oh, how cute. Oh, how charming. Oh, how endearing these humans were with their Gods and belief of quite literally everything but magic.

“Yeah,” Hyunjae said, reminding Jacob that he shouldn’t laugh in this situation no matter how much happiness he was feeling. “Like...you know, those greek ones. Zeus, you know? You know, right? Do they have Korean ones?” He asked mostly to himself, as if in doubt of what he had already let out loud.

Of course, Jacob had wanted to say. Of course they do, for what is a group of people, what is a society, a culture, a history to be told without the addition of powerful and uncoincidentally humanoid beings that are pinned as the cause of everything that is beautiful on the Earth?

“I think so,” is all he said out loud, shrugging in nonchalance before he adjusted himself in his seat. “Anyway, so he’s a god. Why does that make it difficult?”

“I don’t think he ever really sees me. He’s too big, he sees too much and I get drowned in all of it. I don’t want to become a fool when it’s an impossible feat, to make a God see me.” He was so sad, Hyunjae, heartbroken before he had even tried.

 _But you’re already a fool_ , Jacob wished to answer, _a fool to think that a light as bright as you could drown in even the darkest of the deepest sea._

“I’m sorry, Hyunjae, but this isn’t something I can help you with. I can’t change how someone feels,” well he _could_ , he just never felt morally right doing so. “But you will never know until you say it, say it with all your heart and don’t hold anything back for if it isn’t taken well then at least you said all there is to say. Your heart will mend if it doesn’t go well, it always does even when you face the hardest of troubles.”  This was what Hyunjae usually sought after, Jacob’s comfort. And he was ready to give it to whatever extent was required of him for to see Hyunjae smile again after only a few minutes was a miracle in itself, one he never grew tired of even if he had only seen it so many times.

Hyunjae smiled again now, as he usually did when Jacob offered his thoughts, and Jacob’s shoulders lightened at the sight of it. How kind of a heart, to find happiness so easily wherever it went.

“I will,” he said and Jacob nodded, not expecting anything less from him. “I’ll tell him everything. How the days I see him never compare to the days I don’t, how the way he smiles is all I think of when the stars are out and unfiltered from the city lights. I’ll tell him the books of thoughts I’ve had of him, of the dreams and the wishes I’ve been filled with. I’ll tell him of the way I can’t get him out of my mind, how I don’t want to get him out and how I want to fill my thoughts and my everything with everything of him. I will tell him all of it, every single thing. And then I will kiss him, kiss him like any person with a smile as great as the stars should be kissed.”

Jacob smiled, a genuine smile that wasn’t used to mask the misery he felt, for Hyunjae was filled with such authenticity and such love that just pretending it was meant for him was good enough.

“Well I’m sure he—” Jacob began, but never finished.

Because that’s how it usually is in the movies, isn’t it? A word interrupted by a kiss, one so full of every emotion anyone could ever feel that it’d make even the most magical of beings weak to their knees at the thought of so much dedicated to them.

Jacob felt his heart thumping in his chest like never before and, for at least this one night, his heart had become his and his alone. His to feel quickening in his chest when two gentle hands held his face with such delicacy that he feared he would melt in the warmth that he felt. His to share with Hyunjae had he so wished to, which he did, which he always undeniably did from the moment his kind eyes regarded Jacob with so much care that it left him speechless.

Jacob exhaled softly when Hyunjae finally allowed him to breathe, the rush of blood to his ears deafening in the silence of the house.

“Fool,” he started, now unable to repress any smile that threatened to curve on his lips. “I am not a god.”


End file.
